A Self Made Hero's Academy
by RenegadeWaya
Summary: AU. The day that Izuku was told he was quirk-less and couldn't be a hero he made a promise. A promise that he would prove them wrong. He might not ever be super but he will be a hero, and he will become one with his one two hands. In this story he will not meet All-Might and will use technology, his own body and his intellect to fight.!Quirk-less Izuku !Genius Izuku
1. Chapter 1

"I'm sorry ma'am but your son just doesn't possess a quirk, he can't be a hero."

The day those words were said was the day that Deku was born. The day those words were said was the day a young boy's dream of being a superhero were crushed. But just because he couldn't become a _super_ hero doesn't mean he couldn't be a hero. That thought was what the young child known as Izuku Midoriya clung to, desperately, in an attempt to keep his world from crashing down around him. He would be a hero, it didn't matter that he didn't have a quirk, it didn't matter that people looked down on him, he would prove them all wrong by being the best hero the world has ever known.

A small five year old child made that vow as he felt his mother hold him tightly as she cried for his lost dreams. He vowed to always save people with a smile, because that's what heroes do, right?

-Line Break-

It's been two years sense that fateful day. Two years since he found out he didn't possess a quirk, and two years since he vowed to become a hero anyways. His mother didn't really understand his obsession with being a hero and had tried, for the first few months, to let him know it was ok if he couldn't. It hadn't worked, so she instead decided to support his dream as best she could.

Izuku had been grateful for being born to his mother. Without her constantly supporting him he was sure he would have become a timid wreck by this point. His former friends and the other children his age had been less than supportive of his dream once they learned he was quirk-less. Others had become outright bullies like his former friend Katsuki Bakugou. His betrayal had hurt the most as he was the one who gave him the nickname of Deku, which the rest of his detractors were quick to adopt.

The lack of friends to play with had hurt and had taken him a year to get used to but he had managed and now he found he preferred to be alone. It worried his mother of course but he constantly reassured her that he was fine. With more time on his hands he had taken to reading further ahead in his school work, much further ahead.

He had always been an intelligent boy, some had even said his quirk was probably something like super intelligence or mind powers before they found out he didn't, and couldn't, have one. But before he had visited that doctor he hadn't really done anything with it, not too surprising for a five year old. Instead his time had been spent playing with his friends or 'playing hero' which he had done by 'patrolling' his neighborhood and 'saving' people (mostly helping with chores or rescuing the odd bullied child).

Izuku had quickly stopped both after his doctor visit, the first due to circumstances around him and the latter by choice. It was rather illogical to 'save' bully victims when both the victim and the bully both had quirks that he couldn't do anything against. He still occasionally helped out around his neighborhood however, though that was mostly for the few elderly couples living there.

Back to the point, when he found a new pastime that took advantage of his intelligence it wasn't too much of a leap in logic for him to believe it was a way to make him a hero. He figured that what evolution had denied him, years of history and science could possibly provide. It would be a long process, most likely he wouldn't be ready in time to go to the hero academy with the rest of the people his age, but he didn't care. Being a hero wasn't dependent on a specific education or contacts, in his eyes it was simply doing the right thing and helping people where he could.

This brings us to the young boy's room, where he is currently reading a high school level biology textbook in an attempt to better understand an exercise routine he had read about. Izuku, even at 7 years of age, knew that even with potential technical means of being a hero they were useless if he couldn't physically use or keep up with them. As a result he had read about several different types of martial arts and training regimes for normal humans. Of course he hadn't understood the reasons behind certain things in what he read and, being who he was, he needed answers, hence the biology textbook.

He wanted to go to an actual dojo for training but the advent of heroes had made the vast majority of them run out of business. With so many people with quirks becoming heroes the normal crime rate had all but disappeared and the remaining criminals were Villains. That being the case no one saw the point in learning how to defend themselves from regular people when the effect would be negligible on a Villain. In addition Heroes had quirks and didn't need to learn to fight with anything else.

With that situation only a few very old and traditional schools remained, none of which were nearby. So instead Izuku was looking for a private instructor, and had sent many emails to former masters to that end. He had received replies from about half of them, all declining his request, but he still held hope for those remaining. If it didn't pan out then he'd just have to train by himself, not as effective but better than nothing.

About an hour and several different books (thank you internet for providing free copies of books) and his questions had been mostly answered. Mainly he figured out why children shouldn't do certain exercises (they stunted growth), why certain styles emphasized different workouts and what proper nutrition was and its importance. All in all he was tired of reading.

He might like learning new things and he might like reading but no matter what anyone says reading textbooks and dry information-type texts was boring. Useful, but boring, and he needed a break. His next favorite pastime after reading was watching videos of superheroes fighting, both as merely entertainment and as an intellectual exercise (such as analyzing powers, fighting techniques and how a hero could have done better). This was what he was doing when he heard the sound of a reply to one of his emails.

He didn't really pay much attention to what he was reading, as he figured it would just be another polite refusal to his request for training. Which was why, when he got to the part of the letter that said he (the former master of the Limit Dojo) would be happy to train him, he fell out of his seat in surprise.

He wasn't really sure what sort of martial arts of training the Limit Dojo had as the amount of information available on it was practically non-existent. The only reason he had contacted the former head of the dojo was because he had stumbled upon a brief article about how the members of that dojo being seen as nearly superhuman. This article was before the advent of quirks so he was naturally curious but he didn't expect anything to come from his email. At least it was a good surprise, as it was unlikely that anyone else would have said yes, so he quickly sent an email with his thanks and a request for when to meet for training. It was only after he sent the email that he forgot one crucial detail…he hadn't told his mom about any of this.

-Line Break-

His mom had, naturally, been angry when he told her he was not only talking to strangers online but requesting them for training as well. He wasn't quite sure why that last bit made her freak out so much but he was still at the age where he thought all adults were weird anyways so he put it out of his mind. Still he had eventually calmed her down and she had relented to his logical argument, although not without firmly demanding she accompany him to all his meetings with the man until she felt comfortable. He wasn't sure if his saying that the man had would train him for free had made his mother more or less upset however, though he personally thought it was a bit of both.

That was why, a week later, he was being driven by his mom to one of the traditional manors on the outskirts of the city. It was both a long and short drive. Long because Izuku was incredibly anxious to meet his future Shishō and short because it only took about twenty minutes to get there.

The mansion, as that seemed more appropriate for the home than manor, looked to be extremely well kept. It was located right next to a rather scenic mountain and a stream with a small waterfall running down from somewhere in the hills. It was also incredibly quiet; as if no one lived there, which likely did little to ease his mother's worries. .

It seems like someone was watching for us because as soon as the door was knocked, it opened up seemingly by itself. Personally Izuku thought the guy just liked to be dramatic but he could tell his mother was about ready to leave. Luckily she didn't get the chance as a voice suddenly welcomed them.

"Hello, you must by Izuku Midoriya, which would make you his mother. My name is Naoto Takanawa, former head of the Limits Dojo and master of the Traversing Heaven style of martial arts. While I'm surprised at your age I'm happy that you wish to learn from me none the less."

Following the voice was an old man of about eighty years. He was short at only five foot three inches and had either lost all of his hair already or had chosen to shave it. He was no facial hair beyond stark white eyebrows over his dark brown, almost black, eyes and his face was a mass of wrinkles. The man, Naoto, wore what looked to be a traditional judo or karate outfit, Izuku wasn't really sure, and though he was hunched over from age carried himself with a lethal grace that Izuku mistook for that of a dancer. All in all he fit the young boy's image of an old martial arts master to a T.

Before he could respond his mother stepped forward and replied for him.

"You would be correct, my name is Inko Midoriya. I hope you're not offended but I have my reservations about this whole thing so I'll be staying here to watch my son's training."

"Of course, of course it's no problem. Now come, let us go to the dojo where I will explain the heart of my style and what will be expected of you for your training."

The Midoriya family followed the old man through his home and both were impressed by what they saw. The interior wasn't expensively decorated, indeed the interior could even be said to be sparse, but it was clear that the home was lovingly maintained and the few decorations they did see gave a warm, welcoming feeling. The walk to the dojo did not take long and soon all three of them were seated inside, although Naoto and Izuku were sat face to face while his mother hung by one of the walls.

"Now, as a bare bones description of my style I ask of you a question. Do you know how much of their total strength a human uses at any given moment?"

The response was immediate.

"No, I don't know. I do know that we only use a fraction of our potential strength but it was possible in certain circumstances, before quirks became common, for someone to do so. There wasn't much information about it however and I didn't really get that into it."

"That's better than most know. You see humans, normal, quirk-less humans, only use a fraction of their total strength at any given point. The reason was that our body set up a limiter of a sort to keep us from doing so as using our full potential is damaging to the body. The only time this limiter was off was in extreme emergency situations for only a single moment. When using their full potential however they could perform superhuman feats of strength, at least by the standards of a society with quirks. What my style of martial arts is aimed at is the unlocking of that limiter, to let a practitioner use their full strength on command."

"But wouldn't that damage the body a lot? Also if you can train to do so why don't more people try? Why don't heroes practice your martial art, wouldn't it be extremely useful to them?"

"To answer your last question first, they can't. I'm not entirely sure as to the science involved so all I know is that those with quirks can't unleash that limiter at all. I think it had something to do with the quirk being scene as trumping such an ability. As for your other questions they are related. Yes it damages the body and that's the reason why more people don't train in my style, after all who likes to be in pain."

Izuku's mother couldn't keep quiet at that point and spoke up.

"How much damage are you talking about, and how dangerous is your so called training."

Staring straight at her Naoto replied calmly.

"The training is the hardest, most cruel thing one would ever go through. He won't die, I'll make sure of that, but sometimes he might wish he had. A worst case scenario would him injuring himself to the point that he permanently loses the ability to use one, or even all of his limbs."

"Then I'm sorry to say my son won't me learning from you, come let's go Izuku."

"No…I have to do this."

"What are you saying, this is too extreme. What could you possibly need to learn from him for? It's fine if you just learn some other martial arts, something normal like karate right?"

"For my dream."

At his quiet whisper Inko fell silent.

"This is what I need if I ever want to become a real hero. I'm not afraid of pain, I'm not afraid of failure. What I am afraid of his giving up without even trying. So please let me learn from him mom."

The room was quiet for a few minutes before Inko unleashed a tired sigh before finally speaking.

"I won't agree with your reasons, I can't agree, but I also won't obstruct you. You're my son and I don't want to see you hurt, and you don't need to be a hero for me to be proud of you. I know I raised you with stories of your dad being a hero and how much I would love to see you follow in his footsteps but I don't want you to feel obligated to do so. …I can't lose you too."

"I know mom, but I want to be a hero, I might be young but I know what I want to do. That is why I'll do my best not to worry you but I'll still accept his training."

Inko remained quiet but gave her son a small nod in response. Seeing that they were done talking Naoto spoke up.

"Now before you finalize you decisions I want to make sure you know what I'm offering. The training will be painful beyond what you can imagine, and it will take years for you to even get close to my level. You will also never be as strong as someone with a physical quirk; you'll only be stronger than a regular human. That being said are you still willing to accept me as your master?"

"Yes, I am."

For the first time the old man smiled, showing off his perfectly straight and white teeth.

"Good, then let us begin with the basics."

 **AN: That's the chapter. The idea of this story just suddenly smacked me upside the hide with its proverbial….lower appendage and I had to write it. This is going to be a quirk-less Izuku story where he will really on his regular body and technology to be a hero. There will be no pairing in this story. Despite what some might think he will not be OP, like at all. The whole limit breaking training thing will help him stand on a slightly more even footing and he will learn how to fight as well but that's it. That being said let me know what you think of my idea.**

 **Thanks for reading,**

 **Ren**


	2. Chapter 2

"Again!" Izuku's master, Naoto, barked out for the nth time today.

Izuku, for his part, gave a low groan as he struggled to comply with his master's command. Today, like every other day for the past two years, he was tempering his body. As his master had explained it, on his first day of training, beyond enabling him to use his bodies full physical capabilities he'd be training his body to survive it. Improving muscle and tendon elasticity and endurance, strengthening his bones and getting his body accustomed to the massive increase of chemicals released, such as adrenaline, during the 'burst time'.

What it all boiled down to was destroying his body and building it again, and again, and again. His master was right, his training was hell and no normal or 'sane' individual would want this training. Good thing Izuku didn't believe he was normal otherwise he'd be questioning his sanity by now, well more than usual. Which was why, despite his body's protests, he was getting up to run another lap.

Naoto was an incredibly strict taskmaster who you either listened to or suffered the consequences. He also never handed out praise or encouragement during training as he was a strong believer that if someone required outside motivation to accomplish something they didn't _really_ want it in the first place. All though he was more than happy to give his thoughts on his disciple's accomplishments after the fact, though that was centered around his fighting ability and the like more than his other training personal achievements.

Beyond the extreme exercises Izuku does every day in order to temper and refine his body they sparred as well. There was no formal martial arts taught, Naoto believed them to be more for sport than actual combat and thus dismissed them from his training regime (despite Izuku's protests). Instead Naoto had cherry picked certain moves and stances from a wide range of martial arts, chief among them Muay Thai and Combat Sambo.

Naoto called it Combat Brawling or 'The Distilled Art of Killing' when he was feeling particularly poetic (though he only said that last one once in the presence of Izuku's mother before he wisely refrained from doing so again). Izuku had been bluntly told he had no talent for his personal brand of the 'style' and as such wouldn't teach him it. When asked, Naoto had told him that it was because he lacked a killer instinct, which makes sense for a child but Naoto wasn't one for traditional logic.

Usually that would mean he couldn't learn Combat Brawling as it was heavily reliant on the ability of the practitioner to be ruthless to their opponent. However Izuku, much to Naoto's pleasure, had refused to be deterred by the news and loudly proclaimed that he'd create his own style if he had to. Apparently this was the right, or wrong depending on your point of view, answer as Naoto had laughed happily at the declaration before proceeding to pound him into the ground the rest of the day.

The good news was that since he was basically learning how to brawl sophisticatedly creating his own "style" was relatively easy. Izuku's style focused heavily on grappling type moves and debilitating blows in order to incapacitate his opponent, after all heroes catch bad guys not kill them. It was also heavily reliant on predicting his opponent's moves and using the environment to the fullest. Izuku modeled it after a Sherlock Holmes movie he had watched recently, he thought being able to predict a fight several moves in advanced was pretty neat. Of course that was fictional and not really possible but he was still a child (despite his intellect and maturity) and was quite stubborn.

As for his studies well he's gotten to the point where he wants to start experimenting and building things by himself, after all book knowledge only gets you so far. The problem was quite simply a lack of money. His family, while not poor, does not have much in the way of excess cash.

Izuku was brought out of his reverie as he finally heard the sweetest words in the world from his master.

"Well, you didn't completely suck today and you'll probably die if we continue so…go away."

Naoto…had a really strange personality. Sometimes it even seems like he has many strange personalities, still he did care about him…sort of. Speaking of his master Izuku decided that he should ask him if he had a way to get the money for the parts he needed (a decision he decided to blame on exhaustion).

"Hey master, do you know a way for me to get some extra money?"

Naoto grew an unholy gleam in his eyes at the question, before quickly growing sad as if he remembered something bad.

"Well in the past I would have sent you to an underground fight ring but well…they're all gone now." He said with a slight sniffle. Izuku just grew a sweat drop in response.

"Right….well thanks anyways."

"What'cha need money for anyways kid?"

"I want to buy some random mechanical and electrical parts so I can tinker with them; I've already gone as far as I can go with pure book knowledge. The higher level books are just a bit too confusing without practical experience."

"Then why not just go to that dump near town? Pretty sure I saw five separate intact washing machines there, there's probably other stuff too."

"…Why did you go to the dump and why did you count the number of washing machines master?"

Naoto just picked Izuku up by the back of his shirt and threw him out of his house without responding. Still it was not a bad suggestion; the only thing that he needed in that case was to get some tools and a place he could work at. The tools were easy as they were relatively cheap (at least the basic ones) and his birthday was coming up, and for space maybe he could just work in the dump. With that settled, Izuku slowly sat up as he waited for his mother to come pick him up.

\- **Four months later -**

Turns out Naoto had something useful to say for once (outside of training) as the dump turned into a gold mind of random parts, he had also been right about the number of washing machines too. Once he got his set of tools on his birthday he had taken to spending all of his (very limited) free time during the day there. He was glad that he had been able convince his mother to give him "homeschooling" all those years ago, otherwise he wouldn't even be able to do his physical training let alone have "free" time. It pays to be a genius sometimes, probably the only reason his mother let him do so was the fact that he was so far ahead in his studies.

Izuku had also never been happier about human wastefulness as otherwise he would never be able to find enough parts in order to create his own computer. He of course had his own computer bought from a store, and it will likely be better than this one, but he was doing this to learn, at least for now. Eventually he hoped to be able to not only create his own computer from scratch but create his own Operating System as well. Of course he was a long way off but still, science! Or rather engineering!

Putting the finishing touches on his "new" computer Izuku readies it for to start-up with baited breath. This turned out to be a good thing as, if he was breathing, he would have gotten a lung full of smoke when his computer melted down. Thankfully his mother had insisted he keep a fire extinguisher by his side whenever he did an "experiment". Dousing the smoking computer with foam (it wasn't really on fire despite the smoke but Izuku had just been waiting for an excuse) Izuku mind was already going over what might have caused it. Still, if he ever wanted to melt a computer he now knew how.

- **Three Years Later-**

In the past few years Izuku's life has changed quite a bit. A year and a half ago he had managed to sell the patent for his personal OS for a large amount of money and while they he still lived in the same home it had been remodeled to include a large basement full of high tech machines and tools he can use for his tinkering. He felt a lot like Tony Stark down there, though he doesn't think he has the ability to make an Ironman suit, nor would he really want to even if he could.

Thanks to the many years of intense training with Naoto he has developed a lot of pride in both his body and his ability to fight. Speaking of his master made Izuku sad, neither the doctors nor Naoto himself believe he will live past the next few months. He would have had a few more years but the large amount of fighting he had done the past few years, along with showing the 100% burst mode to Izuku numerous times, had cut deeply into his remaining vitality. He had of course felt guilty up until Naoto had cursed up a storm and berated him for it. It still hurt to know he was dying though.

The good news, not that he really considered it as such, was that his style and training were at the point that he could easily be considered down with his training. He would of course need to change some things when he hit puberty and when he finally became fully grown but those changes had already been written down and explained to him. All that was left was to ensure that he did his daily exercises without fail.

Naoto was like a grandfather to Izuku, something he doesn't have, and despite his rather odd personality they had a very close relationship. So close in fact that he was the main inheritor listed on his will, something that had shocked him when he had been told. Naoto didn't have any close living family members anymore nor did have much in the way of possessions besides his home. But it still brought tears to his eyes and even his mother, who was always critical of him, gave him a hug and acknowledged him as family. While Izuku and his mother wouldn't move in to the home, Izuku planned on using it has his hero lair and eventually his own home once he was old enough.

Naoto's only regret was not being able to live long enough to see Izuku accomplish his dream and become a hero. He wasn't planning on quietly dying or giving up (he would fight tooth and nail for every extra second of life he could) but he was also realistic, hence the regret. Izuku had included him on his costume designs and his equipment planning however, and for him that was good enough.

Izuku's first costume idea had been one heavily based off his favorite hero All Might. Naoto had stopped that with his usual attitude. Basically he stated that it looked stupid and he was stupid for not wanting to be his own self. Harsh? Yes. Effective? Also yes. Still Naoto was also helpful when he wasn't been critical of Izuku's choices. He helped him come up with some gadgets or tools that would be practical to carry around. Of course the vast majority of his equipment is going to have to be made by himself but that's where the fun is right?

Izuku had never been more thankful for Quirks as he had when he started making his own creations. Those people with Intelligence Quirks have really come up with some useful things, like extremely efficient batteries and power sources for example, without which many of his ideas wouldn't work without him coming up with them on his own.

\- **Two Years Later** -

Izuku was now 14 and only had one more year left till he could enter the exams for U.A High, since unlike other high schools there was a minimum age to even take it. In the past two years nothing has really changed much for Izuku besides his physical appearance. His master had died last year, the stubborn old man managing to almost triple his remaining time, but he had made his peace with that long ago. He still tinkered with machines and created new things (especially equipment for his hero costume); he still trained his body every day and he still continued to expand his knowledge.

Right now however Izuku was walking around town hoping to satisfy his secret hobby. He had only told Naoto on his death bed about his hobby, and as expected he had laughed long and hard. Today he was hoping to get some autographs in his hero notebook and as luck would have it that appears to be a giant butt blocking the sun, looks like today is going to be a good day.

 **AN: I'm alive and writing again. Been extremely busy with work the past few months but now that I'm going to school soon I have enough energy and free time to write. Expect updates to come in more frequently than this previous large gap.**


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